FIRST MUSLIM WOMAN TO GO INTO SPACE; AND WITH HER OWN FUNDS

Anousheh Ansari, 40, an Iranian-American telecoms entrepreneur, shows a thumbs up after donning her spacesuit at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan September 18, 2006. The Russian Soyuz spacecraft was set to blast off on Monday carrying a woman who will accomplish a trio of space firsts: the first female tourist, first female Muslim, and first Iranian in orbit. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (KAZAKHSTAN)

Washington, 4 Muharram 1437/17 October 2015 (MINA) – Anousheh Ansari, is the first Muslim woman to go into space, and she used her own funds. She is a computer scientist, electrical engineer and an entrepreneur. She was born in Iran, and her family moved to the United States in 1984; 5 years after the Iranian revolution as they wanted a better life.

She has always wanted to go to space, even when she was a little girl. She was intrigued by the mystery of space, and what is out there. But she never thought she would actually be able to make it happen one day, worldstorytoday.com reported.

After getting married, she and her husband went into the telecommunications business, and founded Telecom Technologies in 1993. It was the same year Mosaic, the first web browser was released.

After a few years the company started working on developing a way to make voice communications over the internet. During the year 2001, there was a US dotcom crash, and Telecom Technologies had to merge with Sonos Networks. Which was an IP-based voice infrastructure products company, and it was a $750 million merger.

Even after building an empire, space has been never really far away from Anousheh’s thoughs, and in 2006; she finally got a chance to make her dreams become reality. As she was asked to be the backup of a private space explorer, when the Soyuz TMA-9 flight was on route to ISS.

She went to Russia, where she underwent a six months compulsory training session. She finally got her chance when Daisuke was disqualified for medical reasons, and Anousheh replaced him.

She stayed there for eight days, and conducted a few experiments. She also sent the first blog post from the International Space Station.

After coming back she shared her experience, and said that going to space humbled her; as she realised that the world is so big, and you are just a tiny part of it. It also helps you think clearly, as you realised that things you worried about are not worth it. You prioritise your life, as you understand what is important and what isn’t.

After coming back, she co-founded Prodea Systems, and is currently the CEO and Chairman of the company. Prodea Systems, is a platform that listens to different kinds of devices, and gathers their data for results.(T/R04/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)